


Bravado Breaker

by Hinganbachuru (Twilight_Joltik)



Category: Asagao Academy: Normal Boots Club
Genre: #letjaredbehappy2K16, F/M, M/M, Mutual Pining, Tumblr Prompt, a lot of angst and Hana isn't having any of it, motivational Hana, post-Shane route
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-08
Updated: 2016-10-08
Packaged: 2018-08-20 06:53:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8240002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Twilight_Joltik/pseuds/Hinganbachuru
Summary: Hana finds Jared crying in the club room, and trying to deny the fact he was.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is a Tumblr Fluff Prompt that spiraled out of hand very quickly. Just... enjoy, I guess.

Hana had just gone to the club room to pick up a book she’d left in there. It wasn’t even a lie this time, she genuinely had forgotten it, and she needed it for homework. The fact that Satch had asked her to try to find Jared just happened to be a side mission of sorts she could probably complete alongside the main objective. 

 

She was close to bailing when she heard sobs coming from behind the door, but no, she needed to do this. She needed to get that homework done, and if that meant working out Jared’s problems, then so be it. 

 

So she quietly slid the door open and held her breath as she saw Jared half laying on one of the desks, face buried in his arms.  

 

Unfortunately, he seemed to notice her presence right away, as his breath seemed to catch and he quickly jolted upright, still pointedly looking away from her. There were tear tracks on his face, but he seemed to be trying to obscure them. 

 

“Ah, Hana, what… what brings you here?” Jared’s voice sounded far too normal to have been the same one she heard the sobs from outside. 

 

“I just… um, left my History book in here,” she explained. “Sorry. I won’t bother you.”

 

As she looked around for her book, she noticed Jared still was keeping his hand in front of his face, like he didn’t think she knew he’d been crying. Maybe she could just act like she hadn’t seen anything?

 

But Satch had asked her to find him, and while he hadn’t said he wanted her to say anything, she probably ought to. 

 

Her book was on the desk she’d been sitting at that afternoon, and as she dove for it, she bit her tongue and forced herself to question him. “Um, by the way, Satch was looking for you.”

 

“S-Satch was?” Jared sounded a lot more like the sobbing mess she’d heard through the door. “Um… tell him I’m fine. Tell him to just give me some space.”

 

Okay, that wasn’t what she was expecting. Now she was curious. “Did something happen? Are you mad at him?”

 

Was that too much to ask? No, they were friends, it was fine, she told herself. 

 

Even still, she fully expected Jared to evade the question, not let out another sob. 

 

“No, it’s fine, we don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to!”, she hastily assured him. 

 

He buried his head in his hands once more. “I’m not mad at him…” he muttered, barely audible. “It’s just… ah, can you promise to keep a secret for me?”

 

Hana’s heart jumped. “Me? Why me?”

 

Jared looked up at her, no longer covering his face and almost proudly displaying the tears. “Because you’re the one person who wouldn’t really care.”

 

“No, of course I care!”, Hana exclaimed. “You’re my friend, I care about you a lot!”

 

Leaning on one hand while looking up at her, Jared gave a small frown. “No I mean, you’re my friend, but you’re still new enough to not really care about my image or anything. But I mean it, you can’t even tell Mai!”

 

That would be a hard promise to keep, but she nodded. 

 

“I’m not really… the type of person someone would want to be in a serious relationship with,” Jared half-sighed. “But there’s someone I really like and, I can’t cut off ties with them to try and stop myself, and I think they like me back, so I don’t know what to do.”

 

Yeah, she couldn’t even think of telling Mai this. She would flip out. But Jared liked someone, did he? 

 

“It’s Satch, isn’t it?”

 

For a moment, Jared looked completely shocked. But instead of denying it, he gave a small laugh. “He’s perfect, don’t you think? Far too good for me, at least.”

 

Thinking back, Hana could almost remember a time when she thought she might have thought something similar. Back on her first day, in the library, he was so kind and incredible, and even though he wasn’t the one who ended up catching her eye, it didn’t make Satch any less that.

 

“He really is a great guy, anyone would be lucky to have him.”

 

Another great sigh; Jared was leaning on both hands now. “And I’ve never had that kind of luck. So tell me, you’ve had a hell of a time with romance. How can you bury that feeling?”

 

“Trust me, things would have been easier if I could,” she half laughed. “But I couldn’t give up, even when I thought Shane would hate me forever. At least Satch actually likes and trusts you!”

 

“That’s not gonna help…”, Jared muttered. 

 

No, that wasn’t what she was saying! “No, listen!”, Hana exclaimed. “I’m saying that no matter how impossible things look, there’s a way out there for you to be happy!”

 

Jared’s eyes widened as he looked up at her. “You really think that?”, he practically scoffed. “Satch deserves better. I’d never do that to him.”

 

God, he sounded so much like… like Hana had once. “So?”, she almost shouted, and Jared jumped a bit. “He could help you with whatever this is! And you said it yourself, he does like you!”

 

“But I-”

 

“No, you can be happy, but only if you believe you can!” Hana felt like some sort of motivational speaker. “So just- just do it!”

 

A strange noise came from Jared. “But what- what if I end up hurting him?”

 

“Do you love him?”

 

His voice quickly grew meek and small, with none of Jared’s famed stage presence. “I’m so in love with him, I don’t know what to do. I love him so much it hurts.” 

 

“Then it’ll work!”, Hana assured him. She wished she had some cut-out flower petals to throw at him. “Now, go out there! Get senpai to notice you!”

 

“N-now?”, Jared squeaked. “Um, can I at least wash my face or something first?”

  
Hana felt a bit embarrassed all of a sudden. “Um, yeah, of course…”


End file.
